Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Is it possible that the difference between eternal life and eternal death can be boiled down to a simple matter of knowing something? Jesus says, Yes! It's in John 17:3: "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent."
How does one get to know Him?
Everything depends on that. Step number one must be to learn how to distinguish the true God from false gods; and that also requires distinguishing the true Christ from "false christs." Jesus warns us that in these last days "there shall arise false christs ... and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive even the very elect" (Matt. 24:24).
The "false christ" is the "antichrist" that John speaks of in 1 John 4:1-3: "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist." Hebrews makes clear that "as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, [Christ] also Himself likewise took part of the same, ... in all things ... made like unto His brethren" (2:14, 17). Paul makes clear what it means for the true Christ to "come in the flesh": "God [sent] His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). The word "likeness" in the Greek is homoioma, from which we derive a number of English words that mean "sameness," "identical."
Therefore, to "know Jesus Christ" is to know the reality of His taking upon His sinless nature our sinful nature, that He might "in all points [be] tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). In His human nature He had to deny self, to deny His own will, that He might "seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me" (John 5:30). This self-denial extended throughout His life on earth right up to His cross.
Would you like to follow Him? "If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me," He says (Luke 9:23). Yes, you will know Him intimately!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 27, 1999.
Copyright © 2013 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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